Mor Ephrem was born in
Nisibis in 306. This city was being fought over by the Byzantines
and the Persians for decades. In his writings, Mor Ephrem used to
defend his land and people with a clear knowledge of belonging to a
certain group and culture. Mor Ephrem, like all the Syriacs, had to
leave his land in Nisibis. He settled in Orhoy
– Edessa where he became responsible of its famous school. In 363,
Nisibis fell to the Persians. The Saint went on writing about his
city and denouncing its occupation[1].

In Edessa as well, Mor
Ephrem had to face the domination of the Hellenistic culture and a
certain hegemony of the Greek language inside the Christian Semitic
world. By developing his countless Mimré,
he imposed a Christian Aramaic literature that will end up being
adopted in all the other Christian traditions of the East and the
West.

Even if this great Saint
became a symbol of Syriac literature; even if he was called “the
Prophet of the Syriacs” or “the Cithara of the Holy Spirit” (Kénoro
drouh
qoudsho); the
messages of his texts had nothing to do with nationalism or Syriac
identity. His defense of Nisibis against the Persians is an
exception among his hundreds and thousands of Mimré
about love, faith and Virginity. Moreover, let us not forget that,
in his writings concerning Nisibis, he was defending mostly
Christians against Pagans, not Syriacs against Persians.

Mor Ephrem’s Mimré are
all about Love, Nativity, Virginity, Mary, Joseph, Faith and God.
The essence of all his thinking is about abandoning every thing for
God. That is abandoning even ourselves for the love and grace of the
Lord. In that, Mor Ephrem is typically and deeply Syriac. His
writings summarize the state of mind of the Syriacs and the
austerity of their Church, as well as its attitude of abnegation and
complete humility. The will to lead a life similar to that of the
Savior, and to get closer to Him through our acts and our faith,
seems to have dominated the behavior of the Syriac Churches since
their early conception. This explains their determination to blend
in the Western society[2]
as they did in the Eastern society, even in Edessa, the motherland
of Syriac language, in which they ended up adopting the Armenian
language.

Let us say that in
general, contrary to their
Armenian neighbors, the Syriacs are rarely held to conserve their
linguistic particularity. Not withstanding their total integration
in the West[3],
we already notice a growing tendency in the East towards a
systematic acceptance of the dominant language in the environment in
which these Syriacs evolve.

In the regions that are
dominated by the Kurds or the Turks, the Syriacs have adopted the
languages of these people. Further to the South, the Syriacs are
Arabic speaking people. This was the case in the region of Mardin,
where Arabic is now fading being replaced by the Turkish language
instead. In Lebanon, the Syriac Maronites have adopted Arabic as
their every day language and integrated it even in their liturgy.
The Edessians that inhabit Lebanon today, have continued to practice
Armenian up till now and use Syriac only in the liturgy.

With Abgar VIII, king of
Edessa from 179 to 212, who converted to Christianity in 206, the
first Christian state in history was born. This first Christian
kingdom which was created by the Syriacs in Edessa dwindled and
relinquished its place to Armenia (proclaimed Christian circa
301-314) followed by the Roman Empire and Ethiopia (circa
325-330).

Armenia, Ethiopia and all
the other Christian kingdoms that followed witnessed painful and
glorious episodes throughout their history. Only the Syriacs were
content with being a Church and with being identified with this
Church rather than with a nation or even a language.

When Mor Ephrem speaks of
pure hearts, he really means to talk about the Good in humanity.
That is why he mentions Saint Matthew (Matt. 5: 8):

ܛܘܽܒܰܝܗܘܢ ܠܐܰܝܠܶܝܢ ܕܰܕܟܶܝܢ ܒܠܶܒܗܘܢ . ܕܗܶܢܘܢ ܢܶܚܙܘܢ ܠܐܰܠܳܗܐ.

“Heureux
les coeurs purs, car ils verront Dieu”

« Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God »

This sentence has nothing
to do with what the 15th century Syriac Maronite scholar,
Gabriel Bar Qleius writes. When Bar Qleius talks about pure hearts,
he means people who are Syriacs, and Catholics and Maronites and
inhabiting the sacred mountains of Lebanon[4].
Therefore, he already reveals in the 15th century, a
Syriac Maronite national aspiration, that is part of the larger
scale Syriac identity. However, his greater master, Mor Ephrem, did
not seem to see things that way in most of his work. After
mentioning Saint Matthew in the Commentary on the Diatessaron,
he goes on explaining that one is supposed to see through the eyes
of his soul or those of his heart, not through his physical vision[5].
We are projected in a spiritual dimension, away of all kind of
earthy interests. For Mor Ephrem, the “mirror” of the Gospel permits
us to see our true self[6].
Therefore the principal aim in life is to purify the heart to be
able to reflect the original beauty, that is the image (Salmo)
of God in which he created man[7].

All this spirituality and
abnegation as well as its continuous illustration with mirrors and
all kind of every day’s objects, is typically Syriac and differs
from the Greek and Latin traditions[8].
John of Dalyatha and many other Syriac writers used the image of the
mirror to take us through there spiritual explorations.

The description about God
dominates Ephrem’s literature to become an example for man to
follow. All a Christian’s life should be is a continuous struggle to
get closer to God’s image. On this subject, Mor Ephrem writes:

In respect to all these
spiritual values, the Syriac Church and the Syriac people are
continuously inclined towards ascetism and monastic life. Such a
detachment from the world does not encourage conscience national
aspirations. But it is necessary to point out here the fundamental
difference between the Syriac Antiochian monastic
tradition and that of the Antonian tradition that
takes its sources in Upper Egypt[10].

Monastic life in respect
to Saint Aphraate and Saint Ephrem is understood as isolation away
from women. Where as, for Saint Anthony and Saint Pacôme, this
includes isolation from the world. As Father Georges Rahmé says[11],
the monastic value in Upper Egypt sees itself as a retreat in the
desert, using therefore exterior boundaries to accomplish seclusion.
In Upper Mesopotamia and Phoenicia – Mount – Lebanon, it seeks to
develop in the heart of society, protecting itself only with
interior boundaries. The seclusion is only interior.

This difference (between
Antiochian and Antonian traditions) is fundamental for our
commentary on Syriac identity. In fact, Mor Ephrem never isolated
himself from his people. In his writings about Bishop Vologese, he
likes to point out that monastic life does not oppose with apostolic
and pastoral missions[12].
The Syriac monk is supposed to serve his people and guide them by
living between them and with them. Hi influences his people. He is a
Malpono[13]
not a Hvisho (not a recluse solitary confined). He teaches
and participates to the creation and formation of society. His
values, aspirations, culture and identity become those of that
society.

Mor Ephrem never thought
of a Syriac nation or civilization. His aim was the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of Jesus Christ that is not of
this world. But it is precisely this value that spread out on all
his Syriac society and that became the characteristic of this
society. In that manner, Mor Ephrem whose only aim was the kingdom
of God, participated deeply in the elaboration of our Syriac
identity.

We find it necessary here
to precise that the notion of identity or even nation does not
oppose in any way to Christian spirituality or to the Kingdom of
Heaven. Freedom is a central concept in Christianity and its values.
The nation is like the person. It has the same needs. It has its own
personality. That is why the French philosopher Philippe Sers talks
about the Nation-Person.

We need to point out,
he says, that the idea of nation is important in respect to
Christian thought. Each nation has its proper personnel vocation.
Each nation relates to a person that accomplishes a mission. The
idea of nation-person does not build itself on a materialistic
project, but on a spiritual one.

Spirituality is at the
center of the formation of nation, nationality and identity. Mor
Ephrem becomes thus, the symbol of all Syriacs. He is a saint and a
Malpono for all of them. He is read and sung by all the Syriac
Churches because he transcends all doctrinal discussions to focus on
Christ savior, redemptor, king, eternal priest, unique son of god,
incarnated through the Virgin for ever Virgin[15].
He is the culture of all Syriacs and therefore defines the main
aspect of there identity. He unifies them transcending all borders
and all separations between Churches. For this reason, Bar Hebraeus (+1286) calls him « the Sun of
the Syriacs »[16].

What better description
of our great Malpono Mor Ephrem, is there, than this
beautiful Mimro[17]
composed by Saint James of Sarug ? Expressing the intimate relation
between Mor Ephrem and the Syriac identity, he writes a hundred
years after the Malpono’s death :